1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of graphics processing, more specifically, to accelerated rendering with temporally interleaved details.
2. Description of the Related Art
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized processor that is configured to efficiently process complex graphics and other numerical computations. In typical computing systems, graphics processing and other computationally-intensive operations are off-loaded by the central processing unit (CPU) to the GPU. One task usually offloaded to the GPU is graphics rendering, where the GPU processes a frame of graphics data to render a display image that may then be displayed on a display device.
When performing graphics rendering operations, the computational load on the GPU is often proportional to the resolution, i.e. the number of distinct pixels in each dimension, at which the display image is rendered. For example, rendering a display image having a resolution of 1280×1024 pixels is substantially more computationally expensive than rendering a display image having a resolution of 800×600 pixels. In addition, the computational load of the GPU is also proportional to the frequency at which graphics rendering operations occur. For example, rendering display images for a display device having a display frequency of 120 Hz (120 frames/second) is substantially more computationally expensive than rendering display images for a display device having a display frequency of 60 Hz (60 frames/second). As the foregoing illustrates, as the demand for rendering display images at higher resolutions and/or at higher display frequencies increases, the computational loads on the GPUs increase as well.
A consequence of increasing the computational load on a GPU with respect to rendering operations is that a larger number of GPU cycles are continuously consumed by those operations. The GPU is thus not able to effectively perform other graphics or offloaded numerical computations. Further, in some instances, because of a lack of computational power, the GPU may not be able to support high-resolution processing or a high display frequency.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a mechanism that allows graphics data to be rendered more effectively at high resolutions and high display frequencies.